THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

From Alexander Trachtenberg, ed., The American Labor Year Book, 1919-20 (New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1920), pp. 191-199.

Although
the Industrial Workers of the World was organized in 1905 and engaged
in a number of important strikes in the eight years following, it
really became an important factor in 1914, for at this time a new
determination manifested itself among the migratory workers to retain
some of the good things they had created. For about one year this
activity was confined to the agricultural workers, working in the wheat
fields of the middle west, but quickly spread among other migratory
workers, mainly the lumber workers, miners, and construction workers.
The membership increased steadily and at the time of the Tenth
Convention it numbered 40,000.

At the Tenth Convention the
form of organization was materially changed. This change brought about
the abolition of the National Industrial Union and made the unit of
organization the industrial union with branches and the General
Recruiting Union, instead of locals.

The Industrial Workers
of the World continued to grow and in May 1917, the Lumber Workers in
the Northwest had approximately 30,000 members; the Metal Mine Workers
through­out the Rocky Mountain region and on the Iron Range of
Minnesota and Michigan, 40,000; the Agricultural Workers numbered
24,000; the Construction Workers 15,000; other industrial unions and
the General Recruiting Union, together with locals not transferred into
industrial unions, numbered about 10,000.

In the early
spring of 1917 a number of small strikes occurred among the loggers of
Idaho and Eastern Washington. These strikes were repeated until about
the 1 of June. Two-thirds of the lumber workers of Idaho, Montana, and
Eastern Washington were out and the strike had spread to the eastern
slope of the Cascades in Washington. It was at this time that a series
of persecutions started which continued throughout the war. Two camps
of the 3rd Oregon Infantry were sent to Cle Elum and they rounded up
all the pickets, threw them into the stockade at Ellensburg, Wash.,
where they were held for months without charges being placed against
them.

Soldiers were sent to many points in Washington and
Idaho where the same thing occurred. In the meantime the strike had
spread into the rich timber belt of Puget Sound and by July 15, 1917,
50,000 lumber workers were on strike, their demands being a basic
eight-hour day and sanitary camp conditions.

On June 12,
1917, 14,000 miners in the city of Butte, Mont., went on strike
following the loss of two hundred and sixty lives in a fire in the
Speculator Mine. The strike was principally for the abolition of the
Blacklist and for union control of safety appliances underground. This
strike was called and conducted jointly by the I. W. W. and the
Independent Miners’ Union of that city. The strike was, however, taken
up by the I. W. W. miners in Arizona, where 24,000 miners went out.

On
July 10 nearly a hundred miners at Jerome, Ariz., were taken from their
homes early in the morning by the so-called "Loyalty League." They were
loaded on cattle cars. The train was headed towards California but was
turned back at the state line by the officials of that state. The men
were then taken to Prescott, Ariz., where they were held in jail three
weeks before they were released.

THE BISBEE DEPORTATION

At
Bisbee, Ariz., at five o’clock in the morning of July 12, 2,000 company
officials, gunmen, businessmen, etc., armed with rifles, similarly
dragged 1,200 strikers and sympathizers from their beds and compelled
them to march miles to Lowell, and neighboring towns. They were finally
corralled into a ball park at Lowell, until a train of cattle cars was
made up. The miners were forced into the cars amid rioting, in which
one man, a striker, was killed. The train was sent through the desert
and finally taken charge of by the United States soldiers encamped at
Columbus, N. M.

Here they stayed for three months, being
furnished army rations, waiting for the Government to give them
protection in returning to Bisbee. This the government steadfastly
refused to do, and finally, when the army rations were cut off, the
camp broke up. Some of the men drifted back to Bisbee where they were
promptly arrested. Others scattered to different parts of the country.

THE CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION

On
August 1, 1917, Frank Little, a member of the General Executive Board,
was kidnapped by company gunmen early in the morning, taken to a
railroad trestle and hanged.

The press of the entire country
started at this time a campaign of lies and vilifications, the keynote
of which was "Crush the I. W. W." In all press dispatches weird stories
were concocted, alleging the I. W. W. to be cutthroats, outlaws, and in
the pay of the German Government. Whether or not any credence was given
to these stories in official circles, we do not know. At any rate
persecutions started all over the country at the same time as the
stories appeared.

On September 5 almost every hall in the
country occupied by the Industrial Workers of the World was raided, and
all literature, and in many cases all office fixtures, seized. This was
followed by the arrest, a few days later, of most of the officials of
the organization. A grand jury was hastily called in Chicago and one
hundred and sixty-six members, including nearly all of the officials,
were indicted. On September 28 every hall was again raided and many
members arrested.

Then followed a series of persecutions
unequalled in the annals of labor. In the Northwest the lumber workers’
strike was still in progress, and the employers used every means at
their command to break up the organization. In the following six months
more than one thousand members were arrested on various pretexts, most
of them being held for two or three months without even a charge being
placed against them. Especially was this true of the alien members of
the organization who were arrested and turned over to the Immigration
authorities and held for deportation. Some have been held for more than
a year, and few, if any, have been deported.

Starting about
August 10, 1917, the lumber workers adopted new tactics. The strike was
carried to the job. Men would go to work as usual and after eight hours
of work would walk in a body to the camp. If one or more of their
number were discharged, the rest of the crew quit, and the next crew
would be sure to do the same thing. Inexperienced lumbermen had to be
shown how to place a "choker" and did not know how to handle a saw.
Needless to say these tactics secured the eight-hour day and a few
months later blankets and beds were in­stalled. This latter improvement
in conditions was secured by the men by simply refusing to carry their
own blankets with them on the job, as had been the custom for years.

The
raids throughout the country on the I. W. W. halls did not have the
desired effect, for many of the halls were opened soon after. The
Construction Workers’ Industrial Union had reorganized and a convention
was called in Omaha, Nebr., on November 13, 1917. The convention was
raided the first day it was in session and all attending delegates,
numbering forty-seven, were arrested. Most of the men were held for
months be­fore they were indicted. A number of those originally
arrested were released for various reasons, mostly to respond to the
draft call. The rest were held until December, 1918, when they were
released on bonds.

During the winter of 1917-18 many
outrageous acts were committed upon members of the I. W. W. Local
secretaries were tarred and feathered. In Tulsa, Okla., on November 5,
1917, eleven members were arrested, taken to jail and that night taken
a few miles out of the city and tarred and feathered. Their clothes
were taken from them and burned, and in this condition the men were
forced to walk until morning before relief could be found.

In
Red Lodge, Mont., on November 17, 1917, two Finnish coal miners,
members of the I. W. W., were taken to the basement of the Court House
and questioned as to their membership in the I. W. W. and also asked to
give information as to who the other members of the organization were
in that city. When they refused to give this information they were
hanged by the neck and lashed with a "blacksnake" until blood formed in
pools at their feet.

THE CHICAGO TRIAL

In
Chicago, where preparations were being made for the trial of officials
and members who had been gathered in the September raids, local and
federal authorities interfered in every possible way. Mail was being
held up and many important members of the defense committee were
arrested. Defense offices throughout the country were raided. Funds,
fixtures, and mail were confiscated and persecutions continued all
through the spring of 1918 and throughout the trial. Witnesses for the
defense were intimidated and many other acts committed to prevent the
defense from properly presenting the case. A verdict of "Guilty" was
returned on August 17, 1918, and ninety-five of those arrested were
sentenced to terms ranging from ten days to twenty years. Ninety-three
of our members are now serving sentences at Leavenworth penitentiary.

Immediately
after the sentencing of these men a bomb was exploded in the Adams St.
entrance to the Federal Building in Chicago. Every known member of the
I. W. W. in the city was arrested and questioned. Several of the
officials were held for more than a week and two members, J. W. Wilson
and Taro Yoshihari, were held as suspects for about two and one-half
months.

It was at this time that the organization reached
its lowest ebb. Upon the release of the then acting officials
organization activities increased.

I. W. W. PUBLICATIONS

The
I. W. W. press is an important factor in the organization. Before the
persecutions there were seven foreign language papers in the field and
two English papers. Besides the newspapers about twenty-five pamphlets
of industrial union propaganda were published. A temporary set­back was
experienced by all the papers following the September raids, but it was
not until after second-class mailing privileges were denied them, that
the majority of the papers ceased publication. Attempts were made to
keep them in the field as long as possible, and all sorts of subterfuge
was resorted to in order to get them out at all. How­ever, at the
present time, although third-class mailing privilege is all that is
allowed, the papers are being started up again and we have eight
foreign papers in the field and four English papers namely: Swedish, Nya Varlden; Spanish, La Nueva Solidaridad; Hungarian, Felszabadulas; Russian, Golos Truzenika; Jewish, Der Industrial Arbeiter: Italian, Il Nuevo Proletario; English, The New Solidarity; The One Big Union MonthIy*); The Industrial Unionist, Seattle, Wash.; The Rebel Worker, New York; Der Klassenkampf—Jewish.
In addition to these papers, four pamphlets dealing directly with the
Chicago trial, have been published since the close of the trial.

ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP

The
organization is now composed of twelve industrial unions, the General
Recruiting Union, and a few locals that have not been formed into
industrial unions as yet.

The General Recruiting Union, with twelve branches, has about 4,000 members.

The
Metal Mine Workers’ Industrial Union No. 800, with approximately five
open branches and a large number of field delegates, has about 15000
members. The headquarters of this industrial union is at Butte, Mont.

The
Construction Workers’ Industrial Union No. 573, with the same number of
branches, and headquarters at Chicago, Ill., has a membership of about
5,000.

The Agricultural Workers’ Industrial Union No. 400
has but a few branches. However, as this industrial union is comprised
of migratory workers, a large number of delegates travel from place to
place and very few stationary branches are formed. There are three
central points and the headquarters is at Chicago. This union has
approximately 6,000 members.

The Lumber Workers’ Industrial
Union No. 500, with head­quarters at Portland, Ore., was at one time
the strongest branch of the I. W. W. Before the persecutions, starting
in the fall of 1917, the membership totalled between forty and fifty
thousand. The advent of the Four L’s, a government organization
organized by the Spruce Production Corps of the United States Army,
made great inroads through the use of various tactics. The arrest of
everyone found carrying an I. W. W. card followed. However, at the
present time, the rate of increase in the member­ship of No. 500 is
greater than the decrease, and the membership is now estimated at
20,000.

The Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union
No. 300, with headquarters at Chicago, composed largely of skilled
mechanics, never exceeded at any time two to three thousand members.
Many unskilled workers from the large steel mills and manufacturing
plants, which began laying off men as soon as the armistice was signed
and war contracts cancelled, are now coming into this union, and the
Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union promises to become a very
powerful factor in the future of the I. W. W. Their membership can
safely be estimated at 4,000.

There are approximately 2,000
railroad men organized into the Railroad Workers’ Industrial Union No.
600, the headquarters of which union is also at Chicago. The growth of
this union is very rapid considering the conservative element employed
in this industry.

The Hotel, Restaurant, and Domestic
Workers’ Union, an industry which is largely organized by the A. F. of
L., is also making good progress. The membership of this union is
estimated at 1,000, and is composed mostly of household workers and of
some of the lower paid workers in hotels and restaurants.

The
Marine Transport Workers’ Union No. 100 on the Atlantic Coast, and No.
700 on the Pacific Coast, have fluctuated widely in membership. The
increase in membership in this industry during the last month or two
has been remarkable, and the future holds great promise. The membership
of each union is about 2,000.

The Ship Builders’ Union on
the Pacific Coast was formed during the war and is largely a war
industry. The membership of this union numbered about 1,000 before the
closing of the hall in Seattle. The present membership is hard to
estimate, but the reports show that it has not fallen off to any great
extent.

A large number of new members have been taken in since the close of the war.

Textile
Workers’ Industrial Union No. 1000, with headquarters at Paterson, N.
J., has a membership of about 1,000. Great strides have been made in
this industry recently, several new branches having been formed in the
New England states.

The latest addition to the industrial
unions of the I. W. W. is the Printing and Publishing Workers’
Industrial Union No. 1200, recently organized in New York City.

There
are perhaps six or eight local unions that have never been transferred
to industrial unions. This is largely due to the fact that the
persecutions and arrests started about the time that re­organization
was taking place. The largest of these is Local 8, of the Marine
Transport Workers, in Philadelphia. This local has a membership of
5,000. The other locals, mainly in the Northeast, have a total
membership of about 2,000, and are comprised largely of marble workers,
bakers, rubber workers, and some textile workers.

At the
present time the I. W. W. is undergoing a period of reorganization and
its officials are temporary. However, these circumstances will in no
way interfere with the present growth of the organization and there is
every indication that the I. W. W. will be, within a short time, the
most powerful union of workers the world has ever known.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE I. W. W.

The
constitution itself has undergone very few changes since it was drawn
up in 1905. Perhaps the most radical change was made at the Tenth
Annual Convention, in 1916. Originally the whole structure and plan of
the organization could be summed up as follows: The unit of
organization was the local union, and in each district or territory
where five local unions existed a district council was formed. An
unlimited number of locals, with a minimum membership of 3,000,
however, could form a National Industrial Union. Two or more National
Industrial Unions formed a department.

The Constitution
to-day, as changed at the Tenth Annual Convention, provides that the
unit of organization is an industrial union. Each industrial union is
to have its own by-laws to cover its own industry and to organize
branches in its own industry. Their jurisdiction has no limit. Five or
more branches in any given locality may form an industrial union
district council, this to serve practically the same purpose as the
former local district council, and might be compared to a Central Labor
Council of the A. F. of L. However, the component parts are more
closely allied. Although the constitution provides for industrial
departments, up to the present time, no such department has been
formed.

The constitution also calls for a General Recruiting
Union, which takes in workers in industries not having enough members
to form an industrial union of their own.

The officers
provided for by the Constitution are General Secretary-Treasurer, and a
General Executive Board composed of seven members. These are all the
national officers provided for. Each Industrial Union provides for its
own officers somewhat on the same general plan; a general
secretary-treasurer and an Organization Committee of five members. Each
branch of an industrial union elects its secretary and a local
Organization Committee. However, the regular officials in the different
industrial unions may differ slightly.

Some of the
outstanding features of the constitution are that none but wage workers
are eligible to membership ; also that no officer of the I. W. W. may
run for any political office without permission granted through a
referendum of the entire organization; and a free transfer system—that
is, any member belonging to one industrial union is allowed to transfer
into any other industrial union without paying an additional fee.

The
Constitution also fixes the initiation fee at a maximum of $5.00.
Provisions are also made for the monthly dues, the per capita to he
paid to General Headquarters and the disposition to he made thereof,
together with other minor matters in connection therewith.

RELATION OF THE I. W. W. TO OTHER POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS

It
can be stated that the I. W. W. stands by itself in its relation to
other political and economic organizations inasmuch as it recognizes
the class struggle and is revolutionary in character. While not
recognizing the necessity for political action, it is non-political
rather than anti-political. The I. W. W. is not definitely opposed to
political action, but it does not recognize it as a fundamental factor
in the class struggle.

PETER STONE, Acting Secretary-Treasurer, I. W. W.

ELEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD

In
many respects the 11th Annual Convention of the I. W. W., held at
Chicago May 5-16, 1919, was the most remarkable in the history of the
organization. Emerging from two years of systematic persecution, the I.
W. W. held its most successful convention, with more delegates present,
with a greater spirit of solidarity; and formulated a more thorough and
concrete plan of organization than was possible in previous
conventions.

The Convention opened quietly on May 5. For
several days preceding the Convention the Chicago papers did everything
possible to incite the populace to mob it. Commercial bodies appealed
to the Mayor to stop the Convention. The delegates were reported to be
criminals who were meeting to plan the overthrow of the government.
However, the urged violence did not materialize and the Convention was
not interrupted in any way. The only apparent sign of watchfulness by
the authorities was a court stenographer, who came on the second day
and stayed until the end.

The Convention was called to order
by acting secretary-treasurer, Thomas Whitehead. Fifty-four delegates
answered the roll call. By the unanimous vote of the delegates Pietro
Nigra, recently released from Fort Leavenworth, was seated to represent
the class war prisoners.

After the seating of the delegates
the first order of business was the sending of greetings to all
political and industrial prisoners. Greetings were also sent to the
Soviet Governments of Russia and Hungary.

Much important and
constructive work was accomplished at the convention. It was not found
necessary, furthermore, to deviate in the slightest from the
fundamental principles of the organization. Some of the more important
matters decided at the Convention are as follows :

THE JOB DELEGATE

The official adoption of the universal delegate system is already in
operation. This is a system of organizing that originated with the I.
W. W. and is typical of its democratic spirit. This system makes it
possible to organize the workers in the most hostile territory or
industry. The idea is to make every member of the I. W. W. a job
delegate or organizer. The job delegates receive no pay but are
empowered to initiate new members and collect dues. Travelling
delegates are members under pay who travel from job to job to consult
with job delegates and keep them supplied with literature, due books,
etc. When this system is perfected, every member will carry universal
credentials and will, therefore, be enabled to initiate a worker into
his respective industrial union.

A resolution was passed barring any member addicted to intoxicating liquors from holding office in the organization.

The
Convention voted that no officer should hold office for two consecutive
years. This means that if a member holds office for one year, he must
return to his work before being eligible again to office. It also voted
that paid officials could not act as delegates to the general
convention.

The policy of papers published by any
subdivision of the organization is to be controlled by the General
Executive Board, and no I. W. W. paper is authorized to accept
commercial advertising.

The Convention went on record as
being opposed to any member or group of members taking part in or
helping to build up any labor organization outside of the I. W. W. This
does not prevent a member from holding a membership in any labor body
and in no way interferes with his political beliefs.

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

On the last day of the Convention the following declaration was adopted:

We,
the delegates of the Industrial Workers of the World, in convention
assembled, hereby reaffirm our adherence to the cause of the
International Proletariat, and reassert our profound conviction that
the program of industrial unionism not only furnishes a method of
successful resistance against the aggression of a rabid master class,
but provides a basis for the reconstruction of society when capitalism
shall have collapsed. We regard the great European war as convincing
evidence of the ripening of the capitalist system and its approaching
disintegration; and we hail the rising workers’ republic in Russia and
other countries as evidence that only the proletariat, through its
economic force and by reason of its strategic position in industry, can
save the world from chaos and guarantee the fundamental rights of life.
We publish again the preamble to our constitution and call upon the
working class of the world to unite with us upon the basis of the
principles there declared in order that we may by our combined power
displace the wage system with its horde of parasitic exploiters and
substitute for it the communal system of industrial democracy, thereby
liberating humanity from its age-long degradation and freeing it to go
forward, not only to universal happiness, but also to a high and noble
culture. Workers of the world, unite! You have only your chains to
lose. You have the world and life to gain.

L. S. CHUMLEY.

Last updated 5 November 2004 by David Walters for the MIA’s I.W.W. Collection. We extend our heartfelt thanks to J. D. Crutchfied for granting us permission to use his collection of online pamphlets.